Through the Veil: Treasures of the Feywild Review – deep lore and thoughtful writing

Through the Veil: Treasures of the Feywild (TTV:TotF) is 174 pages(!) of wondrous Fey magic items, weapons, gear, and trinkets. DnD Elise’s (@DnDElise) work is respected for it’s deep lore and thoughtful writing. Through the Veil is an ongoing series. “Tales of the Feywild” was a highly-regarded release in 2020 (Read our review) and “Fey monsters, NPCs, and familiars” is early in production for a future release. We can’t wait!

This product, as so succinctly stated in the intro, solves an ongoing issue for D&D5e: “a significant gap in the realm of the Feywild and many of the planes.” Yep. Many DMs still pull their planar material from previous editions and settings like Planescape (1994) and Manual of the Planes (1987).

A Veteran Writing Team

This product is from a veteran team of writers. Their combined knowledge and understanding are showcased in TTV:TotF. I didn’t find anything that would make me think it wasn’t written by one person—credit to excellent writing AND editing (especially over so many pages). How many writers & editors contributed to this tome? 50+ names appear on the credits page, many of them known for their own excellent products.

As I explored Through the Veil: Treasures of the Feywild I found my mind wandering as I examined the many orange blocks—containing stories about particularly interesting items and their histories—imagining the various ways I could include their story hooks. You would think that after 100 pages you would get bored of reading about magic items, but you would be wrong. This is binge-worthy reading.

The Sections in TTV:ToTF

The book is divided into weapons, armor, collection, wands & rods, and wondrous items. “Collections” is for items that are inter-related through their creators, histories, or meanings. “Flower Crown and Restraining Arrow,” for instance, are two magic items related by the story (yes, in an orange block) of an elf named Atrellana, who met a satyr named Melleaus.

The weapons feel like they come from a place of anger or fear, the armor of concerns over security of a realm or peoples (as opposed to just the self), collections from various kinds of relationships, and wondrous items, as expected, from a time and need lost to antiquity. The stories help align the descriptions with their purpose, but they don’t eliminate their mysteries. DMs, after all, will embellish with their own lore anyhow. A minor complaint: “Rods and Wands” take up 1 page, while rings isn’t even a category, but they are well represented in other sections. Seems odd to have such a tiny section for the non-wondrous varieties of rods and wands.

The Point of TTV:ToTF

A.J. Pickett reminds us in the foreword, that the magic of the Feywild begins with “Once upon a time, there was a story…” After all, this is a supplement meant to help DMs tell more engaging and interesting stories by making Fey Treasures feel more real, albeit amazing, and eliminate describing magic items as mere stat blocks.
And that’s exactly what this product does. It reminds us that magic items in D&D are supposed to be full of energy from SOMEONE – and that their personality is part of the magic. That’s TTV:TotF’s greatest strength—It lowers the veil (pun intended) in front of our eyes to allow these myriad items to feel like they’re ethereal, and makes the stat blocks (which are there) less interesting than the who, what, when, where and why of the items.

  1. “This circlet is made of overlapping raven feathers set between thin, thorny vines”
  2. “A feyding longsword is a peculiar and beautiful weapon. In its original form, it was given as a gift between eladrin lovers in times of war… Today, this custom is considered somewhat antiquated, but a feyding longsword is nonetheless a princely gift.”

Art

The cover art style is an unusual mix. A bit like cut paper montage mixed with airbrushed photorealism and stylized digital painting. It makes for an exciting effect by artist Sarah Godfrey.

Insets are of various styles – and I am particularly enamored by those of the wondrous items. There are also several beautiful full-page plates.

Conclusion

Again DnD Elise shows her project prowess, delivering a bevy of enticing items for the criminally under-supported Feywild. If you’re running a Feywild adventure, this will be useful, if not alluring. In her own words, “it’s like a Feywild antiques road show.” I love that. This is one of my favorite pieces of D&D product to date.

174-page main book (including accessible version) and map pack. $19.95 from DMsGuild
Also available on Fantasy Grounds VTT for the same price

Credits

NameContributionsTwitterInstagramFacebook
Elise CretelWriter, Producer, Project Lead@dndelise
Mallory DowdEditorial Lead, Writer@mallorydowd@mallorydowd@mallory.dowd
Chris HopperEditorial & Layout Lead@chrishopper2
David “Jester” GibsonEditor
Peter HarrisEditor, Writer
Adam HancockEditor@AdamMakesTTRPG
Samantha LavenderEditor@RainyRedwoods
Jeromy Schulz-ArnoldEditor@JeromySchulz@jeromyschulzarnold@jeromy.schulzarnold
Jamieson MulashEditor, Writer
Iam PaceEditor@DubiousByName@pace_iam@iam.pace.9
Eugenio Vargas (aka DM Jazzy Hands)Editor@DMJazzyHands@eugramio@eugeniovargas
Atul VidhataEditor, Writer@atul.vidhata
Keith AmmannWriter@KeithAmmann
Tristan ArchambaultWriter
Spencer AustinWriter
Jerrod BaconWriter@jerrod.bacon.1
Sarah BreyfogleWriter
Christian ChristiansenWriter@Lemuraben
William Clinton CronkWriter@kiltedfiend
Taylor DaigneaultWriter@TDNDaigneault
Drew DawesWriter
Marcello De VelazquezWriter@VALiant573
Andy DempzWriter@AndyDempz
Nathan DoyleWriter@dlcnate1
Jacob EngelsmanWriter
Mike GaraffaWriter
Guillermo GarridoWriter
Imogen GingellWriter@ilgingell
Zeke GonzalezWriter@FantasyEcology
Azra HawthorneWriter@AzraHawthorne
Justyn JohnstonWriter@dnd_JJ@dnd_jj
Kerry JordanWriter@kerry.d.jordan
Kirsty KiddWriter
Xan LarsonWriter, Illustrator@PaleWhiteRabbit@pale.white.rabbit
Jacky LeungWriter@kaito_asuke@KaitoAsuke
Nicolas LevastreWriter
Chris LoveWriter
Danielle MaurerWriter
Simon Menanteau-LedoubleWriter
Jonathan MendozaWriter
Matt NessWriter
Phillip O’BrienWriter
OloboskWriter@Olobosk_@olobosk
RJ RainorWriter@rjrainor
Joe RasoWriter@_Joe_Raso
Tyler ReiderWriter
Dan SalvucciWriter
KC ShiWriter@KCShiWrites
Dean SpencerWriter, Illustrator@DeanSpencerArt@deanspencerart@deanspencerart
Jia Jian TinWriter
Sven TruckenbrodtWriter@TheRubyFeather
Chris ValentineWriter@cryptwright@cryptwright
Samuel WakerleyWriter@WakerleySam
Micah WattWriter@micah.watt.33
Matthew WhitbyWriter@WhitbyWrites@matthew.whitby3
Jeffrey YangWriter@DrifterWorkshop
Sarah GodfreyCover Illustrator@SeraSomatic
Dana BragaIllustrator@danaxbraga@danaxbraga
Jason ButlerIllustrator
Tom CartosIllustrator@CartosTom@tom.cartos@tomcartos
Tallulah CunninghamIllustrator@FabricMagpie@melanippos@melanippos
Mike Garaffa Jr.Illustrator@mikegaraf@deck_of_fateful_curses
Abbie HinesIllustrator
Stasia KasseIllustrator@sassykasse@stasiakasse
Rachel LoveIllustrator
Carson LowmillerIllustrator
Joshua MeehanIllustrator@joshmeehanart
Lessie Nieves-PaughIllustrator@ribbonotes@ribbonotes
Chai PowerIllustrator
Carter PowersIllustrator
Fernando SalvaterraIllustrator@fersalvaterra@diariodecampanharpg
Kim Denise Williams-RobertsIllustrator@Kimbot1984
Vin WerneckIllustrator@VinWerneck

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